Countables and Uncountables

Contables
Los contables son aquellos nombres de cosas, gente, etc que nosotros podemos contar. Por ejemplo nosotros podemos decir: one pencil, two pencils, three pencils... Entonces decimos que pencil es contable.

chair, book, cat, pen, box, letter ...

Incontables
Incontable es todo aquello que nosotros no podemos contar. Por ejemplo nosotros no podemos decir: one rice, two rices, three rices... Entonces decimos que rice es incontable.

salt, wood, tea, wine, sugar, oxygen, advice, bread, furniture, hair, information, money, news, spaghetti, weather, rice

Quantifiers

much or many
much: uncountable nouns (milk, marmalade, money, time etc.)
many: countable nouns (bottles of milk, jars of marmalade, dollars, minutes etc.)

Examples:
How much money have you got?
How many dollars have you got?


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a little or a few
a little: non countable nouns (milk, marmalade, money, time etc.)
a few: countable nouns (bottles of milk, jars of marmalade, dollars, minutes etc.)

Examples:
He has a little money left.
He has a few dollars left.


some: affirmative statements, offers, requests and in questions when you expect the answer "yes"

any: negative statements, questions

Have you got any bananas? No, we haven't got any. But we've got some oranges.

Can Should

Can
"Can" is one of the most commonly used modal verbs in English. It can be used to express ability or opportunity, to request or offer permission, and to show possibility or impossibility.

Examples:

•I can ride a horse. ability
•We can stay with my brother when we are in Paris. opportunity
•She cannot stay out after 10 PM. permission
•Can you hand me the stapler? request
•Any child can grow up to be president. possibility

Should
"Should" is most commonly used to make recommendations or give advice. It can also be used to express obligation as well as expectation.

Examples:

•When you go to Berlin, you should visit the palaces in Potsdam. recommendation
•You should focus more on your family and less on work. advice
•I really should be in the office by 7:00 AM. obligation
•By now, they should already be in Dubai. expectation

Present Continuous

El present continuous complementa al present simple para expresar acciones que están teniendo lugar en este preciso momento, o en un futuro cercano.

Esta forma verbal se consigue usando el verbo to be + verbo + ing, logrando frases como: I am studying english, He is watching TV, They are playing football.

Además expresar acciones que tienen lugar ahora mismo, también se utiliza para expresar acciones que se desarrollan en un periodo de tiempo prologando incluyendo la actualidad: I am reading a book, I am studying to become a doctor.

También se puede utilizar para expresar un futuro cercano I am playing football tonight, He is meeting some friends after dinner.

Finalmente es importante conocer como se utilizar esta forma verbal en frases negativas e interrogaciones. Sigue estos ejemplos:

I am cooking fish
You are not cooking fish
Is she cooking fish?

Ejercicios con Present Continuous

He ... playing soccer with his friends
... you comming to the party?
They ... not going to pass the exam

IMPERATIVES

Básicamente en el uso de los imperativos (órdenes, sugerencias, invitaciones, etc.) suelen presentarse tres alternativas, a saber:


a) Cuando le PEDIMOS u ORDENAMOS a alguien que haga algo, se utiliza la forma básica del verbo sin el to infinitivo (come/go/do/wait/be, etc). Aquí tienes algunos ejemplos:

Come here and look at this!! (¡¡Acércate a ver esto!!)
I don't like you. Go away!! (Me desagradas. ¡¡Véte!!)
Please, wait for me!! (Por favor, ¡¡espérame!!)
Be quiet. I'm working hard. (No hagas ruido. Estoy trabajando mucho.)
Goodbye. Have a nice day!! (Adiós. ¡¡Que tengas un buen día!!)

El negativo es don't... = do not (don't come/don't go/don't do/don't wait/don't be, etc.):

Stay here!! Please, don't go!! (¡Quédate! Por favor, ¡no te vayas!)
Don't be silly!! (¡¡No seas tonto!!)
Be careful. Don't fall. (Ten cuidado. No te caigas.)

b) A modo de invitación o sugerencia, puedes utilizar Let's... cuando deseas que alguien HAGA ALGO contigo. Let's = Let us (hagamos algo):

It's a nice day. Let's go to the park. ( = you and I can go to the park)
(Es un lindo día. Vamos al parque.)

Come on!! Let's dance. ( = you and I can dance)
(¡¡Ven!! Bailemos.)

Are you ready? Let's go!! ( = you and I can go)
(¿Estás listo? ¡¡Vamos!!)

Let's have fisher for dinner tonight. ( = you and I can have fish for dinner)
(Comamos pescado en la cena de esta noche.)

c) Cuando deseas que alguien NO HAGA algo contigo, se usa la estructura negativa Let's not... (no hagamos...):

It's cold. Let's not go out. Let's stay home.
(Hace frío. No salgamos. Quedémonos en casa.)

Let's not have fisher for dinner. Let's have chicken.
(No comamos pescado en la cena. Comamos pollo.)

WH Questions

Aquí las tenemos en inglés:
*What? - ¿Qué? (aunque haciendo una traducción literal al castellano a veces puede significar ¿Cómo? ó ¿Cuál?)

*Where? - ¿Dónde?

Why? - ¿Por qué?

*When? - ¿Cuándo?

Which? - ¿Cuál? / ¿Cuáles?


(*) Términos a los que prestaremos especial atención en el trimestre

Vamos a verlas una por una con ejemplos:


What?
What is your name? -> ¿Cómo te llamas?

What do you do? -> ¿Qué haces?

What is you favourite colour? -> ¿Cuál es tu color favorito? (Si tuviéramos una representación de colores delante usaríamos which en vez de what, pero which lo veremos más adelante).

What is the weather like today? ¿Qué tiempo hace hoy?

What day is today? -> ¿Qué día es hoy?


Where?
Where do you live? -> ¿Dónde vives?

Where are you from? -> ¿De dónde eres?

Where is my pencil case? -> ¿Dónde está mi estuche?


Why?
Why are you so happy? -> ¿Por qué eres tan feliz?

Why are you studying? -> Por qué estás estudiando?



When?
When is your anniversary?

When do you have breakfast?

When do you go home?


Which?
Which is your favourite teacher?

Which is your favourite flower in the garden?

DIRECT OBJECT

Definition: A direct object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of a "transitive verb" in an active sentence or shows the result of the action. It answers the question "What?" or "Whom?" after an action verb.
For example:

•Mary burnt the toast.
* What did Mary burn? - She burnt the toast. "toast" is the direct object

A simple direct object is only the noun or pronoun, whereas a complex direct object consists of that noun and pronoun and any modifiers that accompany it.

For example:

•Mary burnt the toast and the eggs.
* What did Mary burn? - She burnt the toast and the eggs. "toast" and "eggs" are the direct objects.

Useful method for determining direct objects
Another useful method for determining whether a noun or noun phrase acts as the direct object is to attempt to rephrase the sentence in the passive voice. If you can turn the sentence into the passive form, then the direct object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. If the noun or noun phrase is not a direct object, then the sentence will not convert into a passive form.

For example:

•Active: Todd sang a song.
=> Passive: A song was sung by Todd.
* The direct object, "a song," of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive one.
•Active: Ashley became a track star.
* "A track star" is not a direct object and thus cannot become the subject in a passive sentence.

Examples

•She closed the door.
* "door" is the direct object because it is directly affected by her action.
•Mail the letter and call him
* "letter" and "him" are direct objects
•King Arthur grabbed his sword.
* King Arthur is the subject, because he performs the verb. "Grabbed" is the verb; "his" is a possessive pronoun; the sword is the direct object because the grabbing is performed upon it.